Thermokarst lake is the most visible morphologic landscape developing during the process of permafrost degradation,and it is still an international hot topic in permafrost research. The climate warming,and the consequent degradation of the permafrost on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau aggravate thermokarst lake development. The permafrost is normally considered as an aquiclude,and the permafrost degradation,especially when the permafrost is completely thawed by a thermokarst lake,might influence regional ground water. Therefore,a research program focusing on environmental and hydrological effects of thermokarst lakes in permafrost regions of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was started and supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. The work proposed by the application includes: To analysis the spatial and temporal distribution rule of thermokarst lakes in the Qinghai-Tibet Engineering Corridor ( QTEC) under the climate change and engineering activities,and to evaluate the ecological environment effects through remote sensing and field investigation; to reveal the main factors influencing a typical thermokarst lake and its hydrothermal condition,and to elucidate the conversion relationship between the thermokarst lake and the groundwater with hydrological and isotope tracer tests; to make an analysis of the influences of different lake stage and size on regional permafrost,hydrological conditions and ecological environment through numerical simulation and statistical modelling,considering the relationships between the thermokarst lake and the ground water level. The research results will help to accurately assess regional permafrost ecological environment evolution and trend prediction,and to reasonably understand the impact factors of the permafrost hydrological evolution and its response mechanism to the ecological environment in the river source regions of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. In this paper,the research status analysis,the main research contents,research objectives and prospects were introduced so as to provide some references for related researchers and engineers.